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Like many prominent political figures, Donald Trump recognized the anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel. What was notable, however, was the Trumpian way in which he marked the day. The New York Times reported:
Former President Donald J. Trump on Monday blamed Democrats for antisemitism at an event commemorating the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, then claimed there was no antisemitism in the ranks of the Republican Party, even as his own endorsed candidate for governor in North Carolina is at the center of a scandal involving antisemitic remarks.
“The anti-Jewish hatred has returned even here in America, in our streets, our media and our college campuses and within the ranks of the Democrat [sic] Party in particular, not in the Republican Party, I will tell you,” the former president said at the event, held at one of his resorts.
Trump added, “The Republican Party has not been infected by this horrible disease. And hopefully it won’t be. It won’t be as long as I’m in charge, I can tell you that.”
The rhetoric was obviously ugly and false, but it was also poorly timed.
As Trump pretends that the GOP doesn’t have an antisemitism problem, Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia continued to insist, over and over again, that “they” have a secret ability to “control the weather” — and as my MSNBC colleague Ja’han Jones explained, “Greene didn’t specify whether ‘they’ are Jewish in this weather control scenario, but such claims about people nefariously controlling the weather have documented links to antisemitic conspiracy theories.”
A few days earlier, Republican Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee thought it’d be a good idea to condemn George Soros as a “money changer of the worst kind.”
Trump’s remarks came against a backdrop in which the public learned that North Carolina’s Republican gubernatorial candidate, Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, allegedly described himself as a “Nazi” and praised Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf.”
Let’s not forget far-right media personality Tucker Carlson, who received a prominent speaking slot at the Republican National Convention, who recently interviewed and praised a Holocaust revisionist, and who nevertheless remains close with the party’s presidential ticket.
And then there’s Trump himself, who, just a few weeks ago, publicly suggested that he intends to blame Jews, at least in part, if he loses the 2024 race. A month earlier, after seeing Gov. Josh Shapiro’s remarks at the Democratic National Convention, the former president decided to take a rhetorical shot at his critic. The Pennsylvania Democrat, the former president wrote online, is a “highly overrated Jewish Governor.”
In context, there was no reason for the Republican to reference Shapiro’s faith. Trump did it anyway.
It was not an isolated incident. As regular readers might recall, it was earlier this year when Trump also invoked a familiar dual loyalty trope by claiming that Jewish voters who support Democrats hate Israel.
During his 2016 campaign, for example, Trump spoke to the Republican Jewish Coalition and said, “You’re not gonna support me because I don’t want your money. You want to control your politicians.” He added, “I’m a negotiator — like you folks.”
Several months later, in the run-up to Election Day 2016, the Republican promoted antisemitic imagery through social media. In the closing days of the campaign, Trump again faced accusations of antisemitism, claiming Hillary Clinton met “in secret with international banks to plot the destruction of U.S. sovereignty in order to enrich these global financial powers.”
While in office, the then-president used some highly provocative rhetoric about Jews and what he expected of their “loyalties.” Trump also spoke at the Israeli American Council’s national summit, where he suggested Jewish people are primarily focused on wealth, which is why he expected them to support his re-election campaign.
There was also his ugly reaction to a racist event in Charlottesville in 2017, in response to torch-wielding bigots chanting, “Jews will not replace us.”
After his defeat, Trump kept this going, whining that Jewish voters “don’t love Israel enough,” dining with prominent antisemites at Mar-a-Lago, and arguing that Jews need to “get their act together” and “appreciate” Israel “before it is too late.”
In late 2022, the former president went so far as to declare that Jewish leaders “should be ashamed of themselves” over their “lack of loyalty.” Around the same time, he added to the list, applying related rhetoric about Jews to a documentary filmmaker.
And yet, there was Trump on the anniversary of Oct. 7, boasting that he’ll ensure that his party isn’t “infected” by antisemitism. What a relief that must be to the Jewish community.
This post updates our related earlier coverage.